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Want China processing your chicken?

Exclusive: Roger Simmermaker suggests signing petition

Roger Simmermaker is the author of "How Americans Can Buy American: The Power of Consumer Patriotism." He also writes "Buy American Mention of the Week" articles for his website, and is a member of the Machinists Union and National Writers Union. Roger has been a frequent guest on Fox News, CNN and MSNBC and has been quoted in the USA Today, Wall Street Journal and US News & World Report, among many other publications.

Chinese-processed chicken will soon become a reality in America, courtesy of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, unless the American people are willing to make a move right now to stop it!

The USDA has given permission to four chicken processing plants in China to import U.S. chicken, process it, and then export it back to America to your favorite grocery store.

And no country-of-origin labels will be required, so American consumers will have no idea if the chicken they’re buying was sent to China and back first or safely stayed only in America.

And since absolutely no on-site monitoring is mandated in China, Americans will have no way of knowing for sure if China is sneaking in shipments of their own homegrown chicken destined for our sovereign shores.

A White House petition has been prepared to collect the minimum 100,000 signatures to oppose this blatantly unsafe and unnecessary practice, but the WhiteHouse.gov website that authorizes these petitions is currently disabled due to the government shutdown. However, we can use this shutdown event to our advantage to extend the normal 30-day period that is given to acquire the necessary 100,000 petitions.

Petitions against the insane practice of importing Chinese chicken are now being gathered while the government is shut down, and we can use the extra time to do two things:

If you would like to sign the petition when it is available on the WhiteHouse.gov website, please send an email to [email protected] with the subject line “No Chinese Chicken!” and you will receive an email when the petition to stop the importation of Chinese chicken is available for you to officially sign.

Email your like-minded friends, co-workers, and associates and encourage them to do the same.

If we take these two simple steps now, we can start generating interest and garnering support before the 30-day clock starts running on the time allowed to gather the petitions to ban Chinese chicken.

I hope you’ll take a principled and patriotic stand against Chinese chicken in the United States. We want the chicken we consume to be safe and to be domestic only to support only farmers in America!

We should reject any suggestion that the quality of China’s poultry processing should be seen as equivalent to the quality and standards of processing in the United States.

Even if the USDA commits to 100 percent testing on Chinese chicken, which they apparently have, a recent report from the U.S. Government Accountability Office shows that the USDA’s poultry inspection process has plenty of problems, as certified USDA inspectors are being replaced by inspectors from the poultry companies themselves.

What explanation might there be for this insane proposal to allow Chinese chicken into the United States?

Some say it is to persuade China to lift their current ban on U.S. beef imports. But if China will not allow our beef into their country, we don’t need to grant them more favorable concessions that interest them and put the safety of American citizens at risk.

Support the ban on Chinese chicken. Send your email in support of the ban on Chinese chicken right away, and encourage other like-minded Americans to do the same. Send your email to [email protected] with “No Chinese Chicken!” in the subject line, and become part of the petition process today! We need to start preparing to collect 100,000 signatures now, without delay!